If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ. You'll find answers to the frequently asked questions as well as basic rules. No need to register unless you would like to participate, although some images will only show if you are registered/logged-in.

You will need to register
before you can post: click the red register link or the register tab, above, right.

The WoodenBoat Forum is sponsored by WoodenBoat Publications, publisher of WoodenBoat magazine since 1974. To get WoodenBoat delivered to your door or computer, mobile device of choice, etc, click WB Subscriptions.

Selling/self promotion postings are verboten on the Forum. To advertise, take a look at WoodenBoat Advertising, or use your Google Adwords account if you want to advertise on the Forum.

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

Looking good! I do have 2 pieces of advice for you which I learned from experience.

1. If you intend to dock your boat for any amount of time, make sure you reinforce the 2 rear corners of the floor that stick out behind the aft hull. Within a few hours of mine being left docked, the rear corners rubbed against the docks, the Fiberglass got chewed up and the plywood got very wet. I ended up cutting the rear corners and adding some hard rubber. This saved my bacon last weekend when I spent a long time in several locks on the Trent Severn waterway. I would also advise protecting the edge of the plywood as well as the paint will also get damaged if you don't. Mine did and that's why I added some aluminum angle to protect it along the rear deck portion outside the hull. There is almost no way to position a fender that far back in the boat.

2. This is more of an FYI if you intend to have front windows that open. On several occasions when crossing big wakes, the water will go over the bow and drench the front windows. So, if your windows open, make sure you make them so that they swivel from the top and that you can limit how much they open otherwise you will very likely get drenched at some time or other (I did once when my windows were open a bit too much)

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

Summer? What Summer? I don't know about where you are, but here, this has been the crappiest Summer in my memory. I do very well understand the urge to get it finished, but don't take shortcuts. I was so anxious to get mine finished that I forgot to properly seal a corner where the the transom meets the floor and I ended up with a significant water leak on the first day. Easy to fix but very scary and discouraging when it happened.
Anyway, based on your progress so far, I'm sure you'll be boating soon. Good luck!

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

Then got everything sanded, did a skim coat of epoxy with fairing filler on most of the joints, and sanded everything again, followed by a coat of primer.

I also got the motor permanently mounted with stainless bolts and a bunch of silicon in the holes, and spent about 4 hours figuring out the exact routing and drilling holes for the steering system, bilge, battery, fuel, and throttle cables.

All told, my construction log tells me I'm up to 393 hours and just over $10K. I don't expect the cost to change too much, as I have everything I need save a bit more epoxy. Still a lot of work to go, however.

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

Conversation at the dinner table last night was "If a rich guy offered Dad $100,000 for the boat as soon as it was finished, on the condition that he never gets to drive it, should he take it?"

I told my kids that there are somethings that money can't buy.

Take the money and run. Knowing what I know now, I would let mine go for a heck of a lot less than that. It's a fun boat in calm waters, but it's a beast when the water is very choppy or if there is a lot of boat traffic creating big wakes. Besides being very noisy because of the flat bottom, its shortness makes it very hard to handle in turbulent waters and a lot of work to keep it going straight.

There was one time when my tug literally spun around after a big boat passed too close to me. It scared the daylight out of me, but now I'm used to it but I sure don't enjoy it when other boats get too close for comfort.
It's not that the tug can't handle it, it's more that I did not expect to be bounced around so much. So now, I try my best to stay out of the water on weekends and/or on windy days. Knowing what I know now, I would not have built mine.
The main positive I found about it is the reaction of people when they see it. It attracts lots of attention everywhere I go and everybody loves it, especially the kids.

Anyway, these are my experiences based on what my initial expectations were. I don't know what your expectations are but I mentioned this so that you don't get shocked as I did the first time I experienced choppy waters. I wish someone had warned me about what to expect. I am very comfortable now that I know the boat will not capsize under almost any type of lake waters but I certainly had my doubts at the beginning. Still, I would never venture on big lakes such as lake Simcoe or Georgian Bay since those bodies of water can become very dangerous on a short notice.

Having said all that, it is still a lot of fun when cruising in calm waters. Unfortunately for me, this is very rare in lake Muskoka near where I live, so I always have to trailer it to smaller less busy lakes.

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

Originally Posted by mau_ben

Knowing what I know now, I would not have built mine.

Sobering advice, but it's probably good to temper my expectations. It's hard not to dream about how incredibly awesome it's going to be when I'm in the middle of sanding drudgery. In fact, it's probably the main thing that gets me through tedious work like that. My primary fear, however, is that my wife is going to get seasick in such a small craft.

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

Originally Posted by mirrordude

Sobering advice, but it's probably good to temper my expectations. It's hard not to dream about how incredibly awesome it's going to be when I'm in the middle of sanding drudgery. In fact, it's probably the main thing that gets me through tedious work like that. My primary fear, however, is that my wife is going to get seasick in such a small craft.

I know what you mean about sanding and painting drudgery. The final stages were the toughest for me because you are so near and yet feel so far. The silver lining is that you finally have the end in sight.
I hope what I said earlier was not too much of a downer. You will have lots of fun with this boat as long as you know its limitations. The reaction of people when they see it is priceless and you will make everyone smile. In hindsight, I should have named mine 'Smile maker' because every single person smiles when they see it.

For my part, I have been pushing my boat very hard at times when I should not have been in the water. I know better now when 'to hold them and when to fold them' as Kenny Rogers said. This is a very small fun boat which should not mingle with the big boys when possible. I now know it can handle rough water and big wakes but I'd rather avoid them, not because I feel unsafe but because it is not very pleasant.

As for your wife getting seasick is concerned, this may not happen at all. My wife is EXTREMELY motion sensitive. I can't drive fast in country roads when there are too many curves or dips, I can't make a fast U turn, and we had to be inside a big ship away from windows in very calm waters during a trip from Miami to Nassau. But surprisingly, she has never felt seasick or even close to it in the tug under any water conditions. Even when docking when she needs to stand up to help with the docking, she never felt motion sickness. Does not make sense to me, but maybe the fresh air helps or whatever. She is as surprised as I am so with a bit of luck, your wife may be pleasantly surprised as well. I think slow rocking motion on a big ship is much worse that quick movements on a small craft.

Anyway, good luck with the rest of your build. You need to get it in the water this year even if not totally finished. You can always put finishing touches over the winter.

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

Originally Posted by MADOC1

great job and i love how you have talked about the learning curve you went thru. will sure follow the completion.

Thanks for the encouragement! I went through and read the entire thread again this morning. I vividly remember struggling with things that seem so natural now. I hope that in the future any would-be beginners that read this are encouraged as well.

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

Got the edges on the gunwhale broken with a nice radius and got a layer of fiberglass on it. I tried to minimize the use of epoxy to avoid runs, so there's a lot of cloth pattern showing. Another coat of epoxy should cover that I hope?

Just when I'm starting to think that I know what I'm doing, I do something new and show what a newb I really am. Wrapping the cloth around the rail didn't stick as well as I liked and I spent about 2 hours working my way around and around the boat resticking the tape to the polyurethane at the bottom edges before I finally put a filled fillet underneath both sides to help (I was hoping to avoid that until after I'd sanded the edges of the tape). Now there's a bunch of places where the cloth bunched up a little due to my endless fussing and will need to be sanded and filled. My mistakes and learning curve seem to mean that a 1 hour job keeps turning into 4 ...

On a positive note, I entered the Holland, MI vintage and wooden boat show on the 26th so now I have a real deadline!

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

It doesn't look like the minitug has much flare forward, which makes sense why it would soak you going through a big wake with the windows open...like Denise mentioned it is a great boat for its intended purpose! I know some of the roughest water I motored in in my old sailboat was in the San Juan Islands during the summer...the wake master powerboats zooming every which way created a confused sea like a washing machine!

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

Right around 475 I think. I've got some updating to do but in a few days I'm going to do a whole cost and time breakdown for the edification and/or amusement of future builders.

That's quite a lot, comparing with mr. designer. And that was with cnc! My estimation of 500 maybe requires some rethinking. Will be waiting for numbers. Anyway, great job again, sad that You are not allowed to build another.

Re: First time builder: Candu Junior Mini Tugboat

A heat gun will lift epoxy right off concrete...

Dude! Your boat is so cool! Congratulations on doing it.

Peace,
Robert

P.S. When I was a bike messenger, gravy was what we called easy, well paying jobs. Having a bag full of gravy (like 1,000 payroll checks, each counted as a separate delivery, all to the same address, six floors down in the same building, and all super hot rushes, so worth 3x a normal tag) was the best day.